At this time of year many people are signing up and starting their winter sports. We often find people have finished the last season with some injuries and have optimistically thought that rest over summer would fix the problem. For minor injuries, the rest can be useful in allowing the body to do it’s own recovery of painful muscles. A graduated return to high intensity training and competing allows the muscles to regain strength and control ready for the new season.

If the pain was caused by something more significant, the rest period will not have fixed the problem. For these problems, people will return to training and find their old pains return. If you are keen to enjoy your upcoming season, visiting the physiotherapist to assess the injury and biomechanics around the injury can help keep you enjoying the season with your friends at a level that you expect of yourself.

Remember to train effectively, warm up prior to your game and if you do sustain an injury on the field/court, apply the R.I.C.E regime (rest, ice, compression and elevation). If pain persists, physiotherapists can effectively assess and treat injuries to joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Published in “The Village Observer”, April, 2014. Written by : Burns Bay Physiotherapy.